Watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

"Buy the ticket, take the ride."

In this dark comedy, a pair of journalists travel to Las Vegas and very soon get lost in a haze of drugs and depravity. Based on a novel by Hunter S. Thompson and starring Johnny Depp, the film opened in 1998 to mainly negative reviews.

There are many reasons to be jealous of Johnny Depp: his impossibly hot French wife and the equally smoking women he gets to play "Tourist" with, for example. But in my book, the coolest thing Johnny Depp has done to date is become good friends with Hunter S. Thompson.

Drink, drugs, debauchery and dangerous women - they were Hunter S. Thompson's stock in trade, and it all started for the mad Gonzo genius with "The Rum Diary," his debut novel written from the sun-drenched shores of Puerto Rico. Johnny Depp picks off where he left off with "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," playing the young Hunter S. at his hazy, crazy best in the new film version of the novel, premiering Friday. Watch the preview here.